Google Play Pass rolled out last week, bringing an all-you-can-eat app subscription service to several Android devices. You get access to a ton of games on your Android phone, and there's support for Android tablets and compatible Chromebooks, too. It's a cool service!
But surprisingly, it's missing any support for Android TV. It's a strange move considering Android TV is probably the most prototypical gaming platform that Google has, and I'd argue that Android TV is a little more popular than horribly inconsistent Android tablets, especially with NVIDIA behind it.
Google and Android TV
Android TV seems like a weird project that Google doesn't actually want to deal with anymore. That might sound a little weird considering Google was just bragging about how many Android TV devices were out in the wild just a few months ago, but looking at the state of Android TVs right now paints a much different picture.
Yes, Google's numbers about doubling their growth every year and bringing on over 130 partners since 2016 are probably accurate, but the partners part of that is really telling. Google doesn't actually want to deal with any of this, they'd rather just make a barebones TV OS then let someone else finish up the product. That's distinctly different from the somewhat hands-on approach that they have with Android, where we at least get Nexus and Pixel devices every year.
If that's not reason enough to think that Google's bored or indifferent with Android TV, just look at the Android 10 launch. Android 10 for TVs won't be out until the end of the year, and pretty much no device will have that for months, anyway. NVIDIA will undoubtedly be the first, but there's no way they'll be able to get that pushed out in the next two months. I wouldn't even expect that rumored Shield TV refresh to launch with Android 10.
Interestingly, this take on Android TV mirrors Android tablets; Google doesn't really do tablets anymore (and when they do, they're awful) but tablets do get access to Play Pass, even though tons of those are either incompatible Amazon Fire tablets, or cheap junk that you get from Walgreens that really can't run anything well anyway. What's the point?
No Stadia support, either
Google Stadia is another take to push Google as a major player in video games. It's a good idea, too, and looks really promising, but you know what Stadia won't work on? Google's media center OS. How much sense does that make?
There are a couple of things to unpack here, so we'll talk about NVIDIA first. Yes, NVIDIA has their own competing game streaming service. I can see the conflict of interest there. But NVIDIA isn't the only Android TV box on the market, especially with the previously mentioned 100+ operator partners, and NVIDIA doesn't have anywhere to turn to if they wanted to make an alternative box. Imagine being able to buy a controller and immediately be able to subscribe to and play with Stadia from your existing cable box, or just being built right into your TV from Sony. That's immediate access to a huge market that Google just doesn't seem to care about.
And yes, there are rumors that Stadia is supposedly going to be integrated into Android 11 next year, but that means you're waiting at least another year for the next version of Android, then months for the update to roll out to your Android TV box. Google might deploy their own box for this, but that's not guaranteed and it's not like the Nexus Player was very good, anyway. A majority of these boxes support Google Cast, and the Chromecast will support Stadia, so… why not force the issue now?
Apple Arcade
All in all, this whole thing just feels like a half-baked attempt to stay competitive with Apple Arcade. Apple announced their subscription service that would be available pretty much across their entire ecosystem, including phones, tablets, computers, and the Apple TV. It's not significantly more expensive, either, costing just $4.99 per month. Technically Google's running a loss-leading promo to get people into Play Pass for $1.99 per month right now, but the regular price is the same.
But for the same price, Apple's service gets you exclusive games that were designed from the ground up to be full experiences, as opposed to Google's way of just removing ads and microtransactions from many mobile games. Apple Arcade also works on more platforms, and Apple has less of a habit of dropping projects and services when they get bored.
These subscription services have a big opportunity to change the landscape of mobile gaming to make things a little more consumer-friendly and higher quality, and I'd hate for Google to be the reason why it doesn't take off.
Oh, and I like Android TV, too.
